As Manufacturing 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) accelerate automation and in-line metrology adoption, the metrology software market will see strong growth. Manufacturers’ use of robotic arms and sensors, and focus on speed, precision, and actionable insights from burgeoning data, further highlight the expanding role of software. As newer technologies, non-contact inspection, and big data analysis drive the growth of metrology software, its application is shifting from mere inspection to analysis and reverse engineering. While solution providers and pure software vendors offer metrology software, the former remain the dominant sales channel with the latter mostly selling products to or collaborating with them.

Analysis of the Global Metrology Software Market, Forecast to 2021, new research from Frost & Sullivan’s Test & Measurement Growth Partnership Service, finds that the metrology software market for inspection, analysis, and reverse engineering services will be worth $526.6 million in 2021. The study explores market potential in automotive, aerospace, electronic manufacturing, and other industries, such as metal fabrication, heavy machinery, machine shops, and medical devices in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest-of-World (Africa, Latin America, Middle East, and Russia).

“Uptake of non-contact technology is increasing and., in turn, boosting demand for point cloud technology,” said Test & Measurement Research Analyst Ram Ravi “Rising use of 3D scanning will encourage vendors across the software market to enhance their point cloud software expertise and offer best-in-class algorithms. To achieve this, integrations and partnerships with select pure software vendors will be crucial.”

Several trends and developments are driving the global metrology market:

“Since factory automation will be driven by system integrators, metrology solution providers need to establish partnerships with system integrators to enhance growth,” added Ravi. “Further, SaaS must be an option for the future, as customers and vendors prefer a pay-and-scale, per-use model.”